About The Author

Martin Longman is the web editor of the Washington Monthly.
He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. Before joining the Monthly, Martin was a county coordinator for ACORN/Project Vote and a political consultant. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.

He wants to kill older Americans in the name of “the economy”. Stupid, stupid, stupid. One, older Americans have way more money than younger Americans, and those giant RV’s with a Harley in back ain’t cheap or in any way necessary. Two, those older folks are choosing between their still healthy 401k’s and their lives. Money doesn’t do a dead person any good. Three, older Americans vote. All the time. Four, their heirs are going to be sitting on any inherited money for healthcare, daycare, and an emergency fund. Five, the younger Americans already hate Trump. Getting more off the… Read more »

I hate that I qualify as an old person now. At 66, I try hard to rationalize that I’m not included when I read about the effect of coronavirus on those over 60. I’m not happy with anybody who is making it more likely that I will get COVID-19 one of these days. We definitely care about the stock market as well, since it affects our 401k and what sort of retirement we will have. I would not be happy with Trump under any circumstances, but we old people will definitely not be happy on Nov 3 if the virus… Read more »

The pandemic has exposed a vulnerability for Trump: heretofore reliably Republican older voters tend to get their news from relatively mainstream sources. They’re more likely to read newspapers, listen to public radio (especially in rural areas), and watch evening news broadcasts by the major network than their middle-aged children are. As a result, they’re less likely to exist wholly within the ideological bubble of Facebook algorithms, Twitter bots, Fox News and OANN.

I am not at all sure Trump is in great peril. He has the problem of the economy but the markets could quickly turn around so that the stock market and employment looks very good or,acceptable by November. The 100k plus death is mostly older people and that will not be forgotten by their families. And if there is a follow on it will surely kill his chances. But as it is now, I believe he will handle it.. Biden is also a factor. He can barely handle softball questions. He seems to blubber his answers. And so he stays… Read more »

Not gonna take Trump’s defeat for granted. Anything can happen. That said, his strategy has been perplexing. I think he could have walked to reelection by taking up the kinds of reforms the country would have gotten behind. He had the GOP by the balls and didn’t need to acquiesce to their plutocratic demands. Second big question is why he didn’t play the hero and mobilize the economy for testing and contract tracing. He would have been hailed as a war president and the economy might actually be starting to correct now. As things are I don’t believe a correction… Read more »

I’m 78. True, I grew up in a progressive.activist milieu but it was grounded in traditional American values. I think many in my generation rightly regard Trump as a threat to those values and fear–as I do–for their grandchildren’s future. It’s a matter of legacy. Don’t think for a moment, by the way, that I’m pleased to have a member of my generation as the Democratic standard bearer, though–I know what it’s like to be old and increasingly mistrustful of one’s capabilities. I’d also prefer that the next President approach the position anticipating that he/she will live for decades in… Read more »